DxM – Interview with Andrew Goth, Joanne Reay & Walter Köhler

After watching the world premiere of DxM, I had the opportunity to interview the director and producers of this new, thought provoking, sci-fi film.

We learnt that the idea for the film came originally from Joanne, and was inspired by the higgs boson, and the way in which it captured the global imagination. One of our fundamental needs as human beings is to know if there is a reality beyond this one, a desire that has previously manifested itself in a need for religion or faith. There are people nowadays that have never been involved in any type of organised religion, but they still have the need to believe in something, and there was a realisation that for some, science is now their faith, and that at some point, quantum mechanics will prove that there is an existence beyond theirs.

This made us really aware that this generation has a need to believe there is something beyond what we know. Starting with the Matrix, and being surrounded by concepts occurring around parallel universes and alternate timelines, and these are not concepts that are difficult for our minds to grasp. Now the awareness is there, the aim of DxM was to produce a film which could push it further and provide a new level of challenge and opens up new debates.

All technologies mentioned in the film are based on existing technology, and this was very exciting for director Andrew Goth, who finds that truth is always better than fiction. It also helped that producer Walter Köhler has a science background, and really wanted the audience to experience reality in the film. To him, the film is not science fiction, it’s science thriller. The narratives are science fiction but the concepts and the technologies on which the narrative is based on will become realities in 10 years, if not a reality already. In today’s society it is impossible for one person to master these technologies, and having scientists co-habit and work together is very normal.

The film has some amazing action scenes, mostly revolving around the sport of parkour. Andrew tells us that the decision to bring parkour into the film was because it was such a beautiful sport and beautiful way of living. The guys have a philosophy in that anything is possible. When they look at a building and see it in a different way, to them it is an urban jungle, and this made parkour feel like it was a great fit for an aesthetically beautiful film. Walter tells us that they were searching for a concept that was worth sharing, and that was very visual, and parkour filled that criteria for them.

We also learn that the film was created using a sound system called atmos, so if you can see the film in a theatre that supports atmos, the sound will not just travel around you, but also under and over you. Combine this with the amazingly shot 360 degree camera angles and this film is sure to provide a new experience!